Shearer and Sutton are classic British football dinosaurs who think that over the top, dangerous challenges that injure players are just 'part of the game'. All this guff about the fact you HAVE to challenge for it is just nonsense. If you're too slow to the ball and are going to injure the opponent, you should pull out. It was a red card all day long.

Pundits like these idiots get more worked up about a player diving or waving an imaginery card than potential career ending challenges and that attitude is another reason why British football is miles behind most of the world.

I don't know why there's any debate here. FIFA rules speak nothing of intent so it's irrelevant what Mane and Ritchie intended to do. What the rules speak of is how reckless was the challenge. In both cases the challenge was reckless and the FA should intervene to ensure Ritchie gets the same punishment as Mane to ensure the game's integrity stays in tact.

I do actually think the Ritchie one was worst as the guy he kicked didn't stoop at all and was simply going for a header at normal height, so I've no idea how Ritchie got away with it. In the Mane situation, the goalkeeper was stooping to get the ball and was actually quite reckless too in my book, rushing out of his area as he did. Had Mane got to the ball a fraction of a second quicker and then been taken out by the keeper who was stooping to head the ball, it's arguable that actually it would have been Emerson who'd have been sent off. What would've been interesting also is what would've happened had Mane tried to get contact on the ball with his head... had they clashed heads, would that have been deemed to be reckless?

I agree that both should've been reds. A high foot doesn't warrant a red card. But when you're running at speed and jump, you have no control of what happens next. You couldn't pull out if you wanted to. Thats reckless and dangerous and should be a red card. I actually think Ritchies was the worse of the two.

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Took me years to realise that I spent my youth standing next to Steve Foster every week watching Sunday league football. Oops!

It's all getting a bit non contact sport for my liking. Bring back heavy leather balls, proper boots and shin pads that were plastic drain pipes cut down the middle. Oh, and get rid of sprays and medical bags. Bucket and magic sponge are all that's needed.